Our Communities in Brief

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Posted:
04/28/2014 05:12:56 PM PDT

Updated:
04/28/2014 06:23:49 PM PDT

BERKELEY

Memorial Saturday for Henry Ramsey Jr.

A public memorial for former judge and law school dean Henry Ramsey Jr. is scheduled for May 3 in Wheeler Auditorium at UC Berkeley, and is expected to include remarks by former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The memorial is scheduled for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the auditorium, and a reception for reflections will be held at Memorial Stadium immediately following the ceremony.

Ramsey, a politician, lawyer, judge, professor and law school dean, died last month after suffering a massive stroke five days earlier at his Berkeley home, his son Charles Ramsey said. He was 80.

Charles Ramsey said his father was one of two African-Americans, along with Eugene Swann, to integrate the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office in the 1960s.

He was a member of the law faculty at Boalt Hall from 1971 to 1980 and served on the Berkeley City Council from 1973 to 1977. Later, Ramsey became a Superior Court of California judge and then dean of Howard University School of Law from 1991 until 1996, according to his online biography.

Harris and Brown were friends of Ramsey, and are expected to deliver remarks about his contributions to the area and civil rights. Former Richmond Councilman Jim McMillan is also expected to speak.

-- Robert Rogers, Staff

SAN LEANDRO

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SOS/Meals on Wheels celebrates anniversary

SOS/Meals on Wheels is celebrating its sixth anniversary with a luncheon May 17.

The nonprofit agency serves 1,200 meals each day to seniors in Hayward, Castro Valley, San Leandro, San Lorenzo and East Oakland.

Proceeds from the luncheon, which includes wine from local vineyards, will help fund the program. There also will be a raffle and silent auction for prizes, such as a weekend at a Lake Tahoe cabin, Disneyland tickets and a playhouse made and donated by Habitat for Humanity.

The fundraiser is 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17 at Eden United Church of Christ's Oliver Hall, 21455 Birch St., Hayward. Tickets are $25; for more information, email connie@sosmealsonwheels.org. or call 510-582-1263.

La Clinica de La Raza received the largest grant from the Department of Health and Human Services at $5.7 million. Other recipients included the West Oakland Health Council, $3.4 million; Lifelong Medical Care, $2.9 million; Asian Health Services, $2.7 million; and the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, $1.1 million.

"I am proud that these community health centers will receive this critical federal funding to continue to respond to the medical needs of the most vulnerable in our community," Lee, D-Oakland, said in a news release. "As a member of the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee and co-chair of the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus Healthcare Taskforce, I will continue (to) fight for resources to enable community health centers to provide the medically underserved quality and affordable health care in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner."

-- Staff

Union City

Logan High students receive scholarships

A Tri-City-area nonprofit group has recognized two James Logan High School students for their service to the community.

The League of Volunteers has awarded the Michael Gendreau Community Service Scholarships to senior students Mursal Gardezi and Kaitlin Kopecki.

Named for a longtime League of Volunteers board member, the honor includes a $250 scholarship for each student.

Gardezi was recognized for completing more than 1,000 service hours, donating time to Washington Township Hospital in Fremont and Searles Elementary in Union City. She also tutored students at Global Glimpse, a nonprofit organization offering educational travel-exchange programs.

Kopecki organized a clothing drive, collecting 310 pairs of jeans for homeless children, and organized a mentoring program for a private school in Union City. She also led a book drive by collecting more than 1,000 books for young girls in Afghanistan who have been denied a full education.

-- Chris De Benedetti, Staff

ALAMEDA

AMP seeks artists to decorate power boxes

Alameda Municipal Power has announced the launch of Power Box Art, a pilot project coordinated by the utility, the Park Street Business Association and Rhythmix Cultural Works aimed at beautifying transformer boxes in the Park Street business area.

Artists who live or work in Alameda are invited to submit art that reflects the way the community can reduce its carbon footprint through renewable power sources, cleaner transportation, recycling and reuse, shopping "Alameda" local, supporting local farmers and water and energy conservation.

A panel of judges will choose 10 designs, and the art work will be transferred to a vinyl adhesive film and professionally applied to the exterior of transformer boxes.

Selected artists (including one K-12 student) will receive a $500 honorarium and will be featured in a Power Box Art show at Rhythmix K Gallery.

Deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. June 16, and the winning designs will be announced July 2. The transformers will be unveiled Sept. 12 on an "art walk" beginning at Rhythmix.

An El Sobrante man was shot to death Sunday night, a Contra Costa Sheriff's Office spokesman said Monday.

Sheriff's deputies found 32-year-old Francisco Medina in the driveway of a home in the 4200 block of Santa Rita Road around 9:40 p.m. after responding to a 911 call, Sheriff's Office spokesman Jimmy Lee said. Medina had been shot more than once and was airlifted to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, where he was pronounced dead, Lee said.

Crime scene technicians were called to the scene and processed it for evidence, Lee said. Detectives were still conducting interviews Monday in an attempt to establish a motive and identify a suspect. The homicide was the first in El Sobrante in 2014.